876 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. 



ance, a consummation toward which the Tuscarora rice will largely con- 

 tribute. 



Let us once more consider the fact of its extraordinary increase of 

 weight of about 110 per centum in the exceedingly short space of four 

 months, for during the cold winter-time, when ice thickly covers rivers 

 and lakes, nature banishes it into its temporary tomb, which it chooses 

 and digs for itself, to hold its winter-sleep in. This fish needs from fifteen 

 to eighteen months of gro wth, to gain, according to a low estimation, the 

 weight of 3 pounds without being fed. But much more satisfactory re 

 suits are frequently arrived at when favorable circumstances combine 

 and when it will reach a greater weight. There are some culturists who 

 obtain in the same space of time fishes of 4 pounds weight; of course 

 they possess warmly situated ponds, which thaw very early in spring, 

 and perhaps they assist nature in some degree by feeding the fishes. I 

 have done so myself in two successive years, which were exceptionally 

 warm, when I fed the fishes with the almost worthless malt-refuse or 

 "grains.'' They increased visibly and attained to the above-mentioned 

 weight in the same space of time. 



This fifteen to eighteen months of the actual time of growth transpires 

 during a period of three years and six months, as intervening months of 

 winter-sleep are to be included, during which the growth is interrupted. 



I will not recur to what this fish promises to become in tbe milder 

 regions of the south, where neither ice-bound water nor cold tempera- 

 tures force upon it the lethargy of the winter-sleep, where it will have 

 the longer space of from eight to ten months, or, may be, the whole 

 year, including the mild winter, for the most vigorous and rapid devel 

 opment, not as in Europe, the sparingly allotted four or five months. 



It is not to be doubted that the carp will arrive at the weight of from 

 2| to 4 pounds in one year in those warm climates, when in colder 

 regions it requires two years and six months. I do not think that I am 

 mistaken in this; I am ready to stand by this assertion, which the fu- 

 ture will surely verify. 



I believe I have said all that is most desirable for the culturist to 

 know concerning the carp and its natural history, and I will now treat 

 briefly of its culture in ponds, rivers, and lakes, as also tbe construction 

 of ponds. 



C— THE CULTURE OF CARP AND CONSTRUCTION OF PONDS. 

 1. — Its adaptability to artificial culture. 



The conclusion from what has been said will be, that the carp is ex- 

 cellently qualified for culture in inclosed waters, as artificial ponds, and 

 also for the stocking of open waters, such as rivers and lakes, for what 

 is called " free fishiug." 



It is in the power of the culturist to produce, by means of artificial 



